Violet Mary, eight years old.

Va-vi, 

Eight years old. How wild when your dimple smile and contagious laugh always holds you at three years old in my heart. My Vially! Getting so grown, it seems impossible but here we are. 

You are really something, Vi; my little magical unicorn of a child. You are unapologetically you and it is inspiring to most people who know you. You are my little artist with a creative eye who can make interesting art out of literally anything. Once, you designed a wearable tank top out of a plastic grocery bag! You are a competitive perfectionist. We had to have a talk this year about how important recess is because you were skipping it several days this year just to beat a classmate's AR book count. Girl, have some fun, you do not always have to be the winner in everything. 

You are freakishly self-assured, In the three years you've been in school not once have you come home worried that someone isn't your friend anymore. You literally don't care...because you know you have other friends, or you have siblings, or screw all of ya'll you have yourself and you'll go climb up in your bed loaded down with 16 cozy blankies and 85 stuffed animals and read until you finish several chapter books above your grade level and drift off into blissful sleep. How I aspire to be the level of DGAF you are Vi; unbound by what other people think of you - girl! the freedom! 

You idolize Grey and look for his approval in almost everything you do. His friendship is so important to you (how grateful I am that you two have that bestie bond). You have a sister bond with Gemma that reminds me a lot of my sister bond with Kitty. You are obsessed with each other; giggling hysterically, making up dance routines, playing multiple-day overlap sessions of teachers/barbies/library - or you are both annoyed with all the ways you are different from each other and need space. (how thankful I am that you have a big sister who will love you loyally no matter how sassy you may be and you are the little sister who would literally punch someone in the face if they wronged your sensitive big sis). 

You and Rusty are 'the meatballs' and sometimes it's hard to know where one of you ends and the other begins. So much sneaky mischief, so much getting out of chores together because you're younger than the big kids, so many inside jokes. People are always asking us if you two are twins (you have a year and 8 months difference). I'd say twin souls might be pretty accurate. Just like Gemma, I know you will protect Rusty if he ever needs it and that gives me so much peace (thank you Vi; my little security guard for your siblings' feelings).

With your limited patience, your relationship with the babies are still growing. You think they are absolutely hilarious when they are being naughty and you dote over their cute faces everyday. But you also don't have time to wait around for them to catch up, so it's a quick hug and a kiss and you're off doing whatever it was you wanted to do at full speed. It makes you crazy how they use your things or want what you want (girl, middle child probs). 

You are classic "she likes what she likes," and as your mom that is both inspiring and frustrating. You were the only girl on the flag football team and literally ran boys over as the running back. You are considering playing tackle football next year, but could just as easily put on a cheer uniform and dance, clap, and tumble to your heart's content (I've seen you do and love both here at home, so whatever you pick is fine with us - as long as you pick what YOU want...I know a lot of people are rooting for football, but you will have fun and be awesome in either one). You devour books when you're in the mood, otherwise you are making enormous, impossible messes with your siblings that take up multiple rooms. You pick your own clothes (my little Punky Brewster who never matches and wears insane layers, like pink jean shorts over top black & silver starred leggings with a baseball cap). 

This year in second grade, you love Social Studies and Science. You almost never need help with homework or studying, you just do what you know you need done and then shove any papers in my face that need signed. You have friends all over the place (different ages, genders, personalities) - you like who you like and if you don't like someone, I am grateful that you are very good at tolerating people in a kind and generous way. You are honest to a fault but you are doing much better at figuring out the things you should say aloud to someone's face and what maybe your bite your tongue for out of kindness.  

You are so good and adaptable, Vi. This is so comforting to me, as a mom. You've never been very needy - even as a little baby; you just go with the flow. I was late to the bus stop the other day and you and Rusty had to go the whole way back to the school for me to pick you up. You reassured Rust that it was fine, and then hung out in the office, then barely gave me any grief about it, you actually laughed about it and said you got to see a friend's house since you stayed on the bus that long. You are just good most of the time; you figure it out and move on. Which means I don't often find you on my late-at-night list of worries of the things that I need to check in on. 

But then that it is what I worry about, my girl. Because it's always the squeaky wheel that gets checked and we are so very different from each other in a lot of ways - except this one thing. We are both good and adaptable and we aren't squeaky wheels - even if we are flat and slipping off the rim. 

You are my hot air balloon child; floating high up in the sky with the most beautiful view, barely waiting to be untethered to explore the whole damn world. Your ladder sways in the wind; dangling down to me while I hustle and bustle between all the people and things that are shouting for me down here on the ground. I know you are good up there; making friends with all the birds, sketching the sunrises and sunsets, hanging upside off the edge, throwing water balloons at your siblings, and probably pulley-system supplying yourself with candy and snacks. 

But my darling, I know I need to climb that ladder more often and come to you. We can sit in your hot air balloon basket surrounded by too many blankies and stuffed animals and read books together and snuggle up and laugh. I know you are good, baby - what an absolute relief it is to me to have a magical, self-assured, bad-ass, artist, fierce child. But you are still my child and no matter how good you are, I am here for you and I promise to climb the ladder to your hot air balloon and meet you where you are - even if you don't ever have to call down for me to come up. 

I am so thankful and relieved that you are adaptable and good, my sweet Violet.
but that doesn't mean you always have to be.
I promise to give you grace for all the times you might not be good
I promise to remember to check in on you even when you are good.
The whole world is yours for the enjoying, honey. And what a beautiful blessing it is to know I get to hear all your stories about the wonderful, magical, beautiful, and wild path you blaze in it. 

My Vially,
I am so proud to be your mom it is dumb
I am so thankful I get a front row seat to your incredible and unique journey
You are truly the coolest person I know
and I will be loving you and cheering you on forever
no matter where your hot air balloon takes you in life,
I want to come up and see the view with you
love you forever and ever,
my peanut darling
forever,
momma

Violet Mary, five and a half years old.

My peanut,

Girl. you are something.

It's hard to put into words the light that seems to shine from your insides out. You are still the kid that people most request to 'keep' (that sounds weird, but that's how grown ups talk when they see our big family - "...oh, I'll keep that one for you if you want"). There are so many things about you that dazzle, delight, and make people curious about you. 

I don't know how I got to be your momma, but I did something right somewhere and somehow because, Girl, you are the jackpot. 

You are now smack dab in the middle of our kids and I know the middle child gets a bad rap - but you soar as a middle. No doubt my easiest kid to parent - I feel like I never have to tell you something twice and half the time you already just did the thing I wanted you to do. You wake up and get dressed, brush your hair and teeth, and put in your own ponytail. The outfits you choose are always so perfectly quirky that all your Violet-ness is apparent even in the way you dress. You can go from overalls to two skirts layered on top of each other to a dress up ballgown in a day. You don't let things limit you, you just live out loud in all that you do and it makes me so proud and in awe. 

You and Rusty are absolute besties. Sometimes I don't see you two for hours because you're both so deep into some pretend play world that you created together. The way you two are with one another gives my momma-soul peace to know you'll always have each other; both of you fierce protectors and caretakers of each other. Gemma brings out the big girl in you and it's not always your first choice to play together, but at night you two stay up talking and giggling and rolling your eyes at me. As a sister myself, I am eternally grateful that you have each other; I know the two of you have wildly different personalities, but your differences will be what makes you both strong. Grey brings out the silliness and it is all giggles and goofiness when you two are together. You look at him with these big moon eyes and want so much to make him laugh. You love that you're all of his teammates honorary little sister. You are a great big sister to Red, but also very nonchalant about it - like you've been doing this big sister thing for a hundred years. You casually pick him up and walk around, get his binkie without any fuss, and are helpful when I need some help getting out the door with all the baby supplies. A new baby brother, yeah, he's adorable but no big deal to this chick. 

You love your Pappy with all your beating heart and your Dad is totally smitten with you, he can barely stand himself with how precious you are. I fear you will never be older than three in his mind - so yeah, good luck with that. You know who you like and can decide within moments of meeting someone whether you don't like them, think they're okay and you can tolerate them, or they are your actual best friend ever in the world. Grady W and Andrew H stand at the top of your bestie best friend ever lists. Kitty's friend Michael is up there too. If you like someone, they know because you seek them out to spend time with them, otherwise you are just sweet and polite. You are adaptable and I obviously am grateful for that as your momma (thanks babe). 

You are getting ready for kindergarten now (gulp), and have found yourself stuck in this uncomfortable transition period between little and big. It doesn't help that everyone in the family still calls you and Rusty "the babies" even though we have an actual baby in the house. You love the perks of being one of the babies in the house (less chores! more snuggles! you prefer to be carried up to bed each night by daddy because 'your legs don't work' after a long day of playing! hah!) but you are also starting to recognize the benefits of being a big kid (sleepovers! trust! freedom!). We will get through it, but this is the roughest patch you've gone through growing up yet - you completely skipped over the terrible 2's and 3's, so I'll give you this one. We'll get there together, peanut. 

You love playing Barbies most of all, but you still love painting and coloring as a close second. You can ride a bike with no training wheels, pop a little wheelie on said bike, write your full name in bubble letters, catch a chicken with the best of them, do a cartwheel, and have the strongest upper body strength in the house per body weight (you can do 15 push ups, or 5 chin ups, or climb straight up a 15 ft rope with no support). You are a fish! You would swim and swim until you drown (that's not funny because you almost did drown last summer from swimming so hard you ran out of gas and it was one of the scariest moments of my whole life). You can now swim down nine feet deep and pick up sinkers off the pool floor (thanks to the encouragement and patience of your big bro Grey who stuck by your side until you could do it yourself). 

You are just so unapologetically you, Vi. You take no one's crap and I love that about you (even though that includes me sometimes and your eyes roll to the actual back of your head because "Moooooooooom, come on"). You have a little mischievous streak in your heart that sometimes we have to remind you to not be a Disney villain (beautiful face with an evil heart, lol). You have those dimples that slay people, a giggle that knocks everyone off their feet, and a concrete understanding of things that surprises us regularly. You explained to Rusty the other day, "Mom is mean because she's trying to learn us to be good people." (lol forever). and you deadpan joked to our STEAM teacher who's toads we are summer babysitting, "we killed your frogs." (not true). You sing curse song lyrics because, as you justified to us, 'the curse doesn't count it if it's sung in a song' (actually true though), so we can hear you singing from your booster seat, "ooooh child, tired of the bullshit" and "feeling good as hell" out loud and proud to Lizzo. 

You are still bite-sized for your age and if I have any hope of not being the shortest person in our family someday in the future, it will be me and you holding it down. You refuse to have Daddy help pull your loose teeth out - you wait and wait until they are so loose it's disgusting (you've lost two already!), you can blow a bubble with gum, you can whistle, and wink. You also love scary/spooky movies (just like I did when I was young) some of your favorites are Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, The Quiet Place (!), all the Jurassic Parks, and Tremors. 

My Violet peanut girl, 

gosh do I feel lucky everyday to be your momma. 

even more lucky to see how you live life out loud exactly as you are inside your heart

you ain't gonna take nobody's nothing 

and you will paint, color, and build the make believe land that's in your head out into this world

being the middle child is not a burden to you, it's exactly where you shine brightest

big enough and little enough to be both at the same time

thanks for always being hilariously and ruthlessly honest. 

Give 'em hell, baby girl. 

I know you will. 

love you forever and ever

for all the days

even when you're bigger and sassier and maybe making me cry with your honesty and beauty. 

I love you peanut. 

momma. 

Vially Mary at four.

our dearest Peanut Vially Girl,
you are four and so proud to be. You never seemed to go through that wacky terrible twos and threes stage (thank you) but four seems to have brought a little sassiness to your soul. You still have enough sweetness to offset it though because it only takes one stern 'momma glance' to get you to apologize and ask how to fix it.

You are such a little cherub Vially with those cheeks that still are so full and precious and that sweet heart so full of joy and playfulness. You are learning to write your name at preschool and can help with chores around the house. You can get your own cup of water & ice from the fridge and clean up your whole room - including making the bed - all by yourself. You are really starting to be a big girl, my va-vi.

You are still my little squishem though and I get asked all the time if you and Rusty are twins, what with you two being nearly the same height and with your white blonde hair. Plus, the two of you run around together wrecking everything like little cannon balls. Everyone refers to you two as 'the babies' and you still don't seem to mind.  You and Rusty have such a sweet relationship in which you care for him because technically you're the big sis - but you also play together and get into mischief. Gemma brings out the girly in you; the two of you playing mommas & girlfriends together toting babydolls and bags stuffed to the brim with who knows what. I swear you girls change your clothes six times a day and make me dizzy with laundry. Grey dials up the silly in you and you will do anything and everything to make him laugh. You get sent to actual timeout for being too silly sometimes, especially when you and Grey are winding each other up into a frenzy of goofiness. I love to see all the different shades your siblings can bring out in you and how you can reflect the personality everyone in our family needs.

You are totally a weak spot for Dad (and you know it) and he could never yell at you. He still says almost daily, "can you even believe something as cute as Violet exists?" oh sheesh, he's in trouble. You are still my 'easiest' kid, you've always just gone along with whatever we need to do with the littlest complaining. You are an expert dishwasher-emptier (gosh, thank you baby girl) and will attempt to do just about any helpful task - you like surprising us by leading us to the area of the house you fixed up with our eyes closed and making a big reveal of it.  You wake up so nicely in the morning and rarely ever need to be told twice -which is such a relief because it feels like I have to repeat myself 700 times to your big bro and sis.

You like reading books, playing babies or barbies, painting/coloring, and putting puzzles together. You never complain about getting your hair fixed and you prefer to have 'panda ears' (two bun pigtails on top of your head) or 'bunny ears' (two high half-up pigtails). You still use lasterday when you talk about things that happened yesterday and you've even expanded to include lasternight, and laster week. This summer you called it bikini (zucchini) and asked if I could make bikini bread for breakfast because you loved it.

Your best friends at school are Grady, Cassidy, and Hunter and you love having worksheets for 'homework.' You call your backpack:  "packpack" you like to know ahead of time what I packed in your lunchbox and you like being the "gaboose" in the line. Your favorite movies include Mamma Mia, The Greatest Showman, the Sandlot, and Tremors (lol). You have a stuffed puppy that you sleep with (you got it from Kuma for your birthday). Every night, you ask, "can you read your book on my floor while I go to sleep?"

You are still an artist in your soul and I am so fascinated by your artwork and creativity in coloring and painting. It is so intentional and abstract, I worry about not supporting your talents enough. You can draw stick figures and people, but you almost never do. Your drawings are always colorful and fantastical. I wish I understood more about art, but I am just an admirer of brilliant minds; and you my darling, have a brilliantly creative and artistic mind. I can't wait to see how you'll give everyone new visions of the world with your pictures.

Greyson asked you to color the other day while he watched so he could see 'how a real artist works' and when he asked you how you know what to do you said, "I don't know, my brain turns off and my hands just do it." I made you an art account on Instagram to share your work and I followed a few artists' pages. Sometimes we scroll through and look at them together and you press the heart button for the pictures you like. I love how it allows you to see other peoples' creations (some of them that remind me so much of your artwork) and how you respond with, "Oh wow! That's a nice one!" like you really know and understand - maybe you do? I don't, but I'm going to keep learning and trying.

My vially girl.
you are so clever and sweet and precious
you have the power to make everyone smile
i am so grateful to get to be your momma
my darling little peanut.
we will be loving and squeezing you forever.
even if you stay a small squishem always
and even if you do end up finally getting big
forever and ever
momma.

Vially at three.

dearest squishiest, honeyiest pie Vially,
three suits you. i feel like you at three is maybe the you'est you - is there some way we could keep you always this sweet, and snuggly with that mouse squeak voice? oh, how we all wish with our deepest wishes because you are pretty much everyone's favorite.

not kidding about the everyone's favorite. You are. You're the child most often that our friends and family whisper to us, 'I'll keep this one if you like' because you just have the thing that the Olsen twins had when they were toddlers on Full House - the 'aww' factor for anything and everything you do and no one can resist your fourteen million dollar smile.  And that smile that doesn't come for free man, you gotta work for it. If someone wins your affection the look on their face is sheer astonishment and joy - like how people look when they're surprised with puppies and kitties.

You are tough and brave and weirdly cool for your age. You had a horse themed birthday party and it doesn't appear to be a fad you're growing out of. You talk about Dawn (Uncle Dave & Aunt Cindy's horse who came to your party!) at least once a week and love looking at books about horses.

You still love Barbie dolls and the stories and dialogue you make up for them is so adorable to walk up on. You also love puzzles and coloring pictures - you're getting better and better at coloring in the lines and you can draw a simple smiley face now with these big circle round eyes (that take up most of the circle face) and a funny little barely turned up line for the smile.

Your second favorite movie is Jurassic World.  Jurassic Park 1, 2, and 3 are also in your top 5.  The Book of Life about el dia de los muertos is your favorite movie and you can say 'María Posada with an incredible Spanish accent.  Speaking of Spanish you also know how to say pengüino (penguin) and caballo (horse). I asked you how to say "mom" in Spanish and you said, "Tabitha!" (hah). 

I love to see how you interact with your siblings. You get tough and wild with Grey and you two are always getting in trouble together because the silliness is through the roof. He encourages you to say ridiculous things and while he laughs so hard he almost falls out of his seat, you just ham it up some more - even if you're about an inch away from getting sent to time out (talking about poop and weiners and buttfaces is the general theme). 

With Gemma you go full on baby mode because Gem will literally pick you up and carry you around the house if you show the slightest sign of distress. She rubs your back and fixes your hair and teaches you all about being a mom and a 'girlfriend.' I catch you two snuggled up or holding hands all the time and it makes me so thankful my heart cracks open and I send gratitude out to the whole world to all the sisters and all the ways we give each other life and love and support. (#sisterscomefirst).  

And with Rusty you are learning a new way to be as he gets older and more durable and dominant. You are learning about ways you can boss him around or play with him or be sneaky together (like squeezing butt cream all over play doh!) and also by copying Gemma and taking good care of Rust in little ways. 

We took you to daycare this year while you were still two and they tried to be all serious about not moving you up to preschool until you were officially three, and even then sometimes three year olds struggle, and then I picked you up on Day One and they were like, "oh yeah, she's just going to preschool right now, she's totally fine." and Daddy and I were like, "um, yeah, duh."

You're a darling at daycare and one of your teachers told me, "I've never seen that child be bad in my life." You are learning so much and making all kinds of new friends. I love to hear about your day and learn your friends' names and about the songs you sang. You are quite a story teller and regularly tell little fib stories for who knows what reason.  You recently told me that "Santa stole all your underwear" which is why you were wearing Gemma's underpants. And you've also lied to me and told me you went to time out in daycare because you "told all my friends to SHUTUP!" (I actually asked the teachers if this was true which was what prompted the teacher to tell me the aforementioned quote about your behavior). 

Va-vi, you are such a gift to all of us. You make us laugh and smile and bring so much joy to our days. Your imagination and the way you are a friend (already! a real friend!) make this world a kinder place. We wish you could be three forever because you're so squishy and huggable and the 'aww factor' just oozes out of everything you do - but my sweet, it's impossible and the bigger part of my momma's heart can't wait to see how you continue to grow and turn more into the you'est you. Gosh, the world doesn't even deserve a more you'er you - but maybe that's just what the world needs, my darling. The world needs more wonder, more aww, more hugs, and the world needs more cool, weird friends. 

Vially girl,
everyday I can't believe 

how I got so lucky

to be your momma. 

my little peanut. 

i love you forever

and ever

even when you get so big

momma. 

Violet Mary, two years old.

Our Va-vi is two.  It seems an impossibility both because it happened so fast but also, duh - hasn't she been two forever now?  Time and parenthood is never working like I think it should work.

photo cred:  Adlive Collective

Here's the not so secret, secret.  Ask anyone of us in the family about who the favorite kid is and we will all say, "there is no favorite" and then we all give a sideways grin and cough/whisper "Violet." 

The thing is that she's just so Violet.  She's funny and squishy and sneaky and smart and weird and silly and will.not.give.you.a.smile.at.all unless you're willing to work for it.  And then when you get that smile, it's like a prize because you really did work for it and also she don't hand those things out for free, man. When you get attention from Va-vi, it's authentic which makes it feel special somehow. 

At two, she still drinks a bubba when she's feeling tired or cranky and truth be told we've totally white-flagged that battle...because third baby and someday she just won't anymore, so whatevs, right?  She likes her bubba with a blanket, no matter how warm the temperature is, and it helps her calm down and feel safe.  We call it bubba&chill and boy does this girl love her some bubba&chill.  

She likes playing 'girlfriends,' and babydolls with diaper bags and high heels and pretend phones with Gemma.  She likes playing chase/tackle with Greyson, and reading books with Rusty.  Violet's favorite song is the Wiggalow chant from Greyson's football games that the cheerleaders do and she also loves to shout out randomly, "Greyson Studer, Touchdown!" She doesn't seem to prefer any one person in our family but likes to spend small bursts of time with each of us. 

We each find ourselves thinking she's just a baby but then she'll pull a fast one on us and whip out a full blown sentence on us or crack a perfectly timed and clever joke and remind us that she's turning into a bonafide big girl right before our eyes and breaking all of our hearts while she's at it because Violet at 2years old is pretty adorably awesome.

Oh, an also, she cray. 

She is wild and fearless and plays that way too.  At the shrieks and squeals of her siblings, her confidence grows and soon she is plowing and leaping and earning the bruises to show for it.  She hates ponytails, barrettes, and headbands.  She loves breakfast sausage, and 'chokit' (chocolate), watching family videos on our phones, and her 1000 Animals Usborne book. 

She's our Vially girl and we feel lucky every day to get to bask in the light that shines out of our girl.

the age of two doesn't seem nearly as terrible as it appears to be hilarious and squishy with this girl. 

va-vi, 

we could eat you up, 

(every single moment), 

we love you so.  

forever and ever.

even when you get so big

and less squishy. 

your momma. 

Violet at 18months

Our Violet girl.
She sure is something.  She had her 18month birthday last week and it's hard to believe that girl is growing into a real life kid already.  I'm so grateful to still give kisses on those sweet baby cheeks, and admire those thick baby wrists, and giggle at that always full belly pushing out her tshirts. There's still a lot of baby left in our toddler, but we can sadly already see it slipping away day by day.



She is an easy going little thing as she's been hauled about to all of our family activities and events without any choice since she was born, especially since it was just a few months before the mayhem of basketball season.  She likes waving and saying 'hi' to strangers and has her little signature move with her shoulders up, wrinkled nose, and cheesy grin.  She is pretty cuddly, but only when she wants to be.  She'll climb up in our arms, or reach up saying "old you" and lay completely boneless with her chin over our shoulder and her limbs draped around us; dead weight.

Now that she can walk, run, jump, and climb - she loves being outside.  It gives her the kind of freedom and independence that she craves and she plays happily alone for incredible amounts of time.  She loves to play rough and tease her siblings because they generally let her get away with everything.



She's talking up a storm these days and although we are the only ones who can really understand what she's saying consistently, her vocabulary bank and the clarity of her words is improving daily. My favorites of hers right now are: poush (push), hoise (horse), buddies (birdies), and chicky (our dog Trixie).  She isn't interested in television yet, and will sit for only one youtube video of an arctic wolf howling.  She still loves drinking a bubba before she sleeps (!) and likes taking baths, brushing her teeth, playing chase with Grey, Gemma, or Lulu our cat, and giving the dogs bones and her food from her plate.



Her little rebel streak is gaining momentum and I watch with both trepidation and pride as she purposefully acts out in sneaky, little naughty ways.  As the third born, her older siblings are always encouraging her to do the things that they won't do for fear of consequences.

Their little interactions play out in such a familiar way to me, as my sister and I encouraged our third born sister in just the same way.  We tried to get her to do things out of our own curiosity to see how it would play out, but also because we knew (or assumed), as the two older, physically stronger, and more experienced sisters - we'd be able to fix it or get her out of whatever might come - whether it have been a punishment from our parents or her imminent physical danger.

I can already see how this is contributing to Violet's personality in little hints as she marches fearlessly through toddlerhood.  She is brave and confident but also knows that with the slightest squeak or pouted lip, someone will arrive at her rescue.  She has a confidence that is backed by the laughter and cheers of her siblings. All of these things remind me in a lot of ways of my baby sis, and if our Violet grows up to be like her, that won't be such bad thing at all.



There's something about her that can't be quantified into words, or caught in a photo.  Sure, she fits all the adjectives people have said about her, 'beautiful, smart, brave, fearless, strong,' but with a drop of something odd and unique added into the definition.  She's all of those things, but not any one of them bluntly. She's something else, something I don't quite have the words for.  Something 'other' that maybe will reveal and name itself as she grows, but for now - she's simply our Violet.  She brings joy, and silliness, and brightness into our life every single day.

we love you, our Violet Mary girl.
even when you get so big.
forever. and ever.
mumma.

my favorite photo from 2015

There are all kinds of mommas out there.  Some of us are really great at helping out at school and bringing in the best classroom snacks.  Some of us moms can clean and organize like nobody's business.  Some of us plan amazing parties, and some of us seem to balance it all effortlessly.  It takes all kinds of us mommas - so be proud of whatever it is that you bring to your village!

Personally, I'm the kind of mom that has her camera or phone out to snap pictures of the big events and of the everyday normal, boring stuff.  Our family yearbook is one of my very favorite things to create and is the biggest motivation to have my camera ready to snag the photos of what our days feel like right in this moment of very young kids where the days pass by in a bizarre and loud blur.  I'm the girl receiving regular reminders that my phone storage is low due to photo capacity.

When I was happily browsing Social Print Studio and daydreaming about my next purchase, I started wondering about choosing a single favorite photo from 2015.  I mean, could it even be done, just one single favorite photo?

I took a lot of photos that I really love over the course of 2015, it was a big one for us, after all.  We traveled to the Dominican Republic for a family vacation, we celebrated our baby's first birthday, our son started Kindergarten...it was a record year!  Even though I have loved tons of pictures from last year, it didn't take more than a few minutes to zero in on the number one favorite capture.  Out of all of those major events, my favorite photo actually comes from a regular moment on a regular day with our two girls.

I am one of three sisters, and for all my life, I will be grateful to be a sister of sisters.  For all my life, I will be grateful to be a mother of sisters.  A complete dialogue of a secret, silent language occurs within a glimpse between sisters.  Our husbands sit among us with furrowed eyebrows as the three of us hold entire conversations without ever finishing a sentence in it's entirety.

As with all siblings, there is a loyalty that runs deeper than comprehension, born into our bones through shared DNA and childhood memories.  But with sisters, that loyalty is laced with understanding and empathy and forgiveness.  I see this already in our girls at only four and a year and a half and my heart swells with joy and relief.  They will always have each other, and hopefully they'll also adopt their, future cousins and sisters-in-law into their little circle of giggling and shared desserts and unfinished sentences.

That's what this photo shines out for me; that secret language between sisters.  The mutual admiration and love and reverence that sisters extend to each other.  I imagine I will spend the rest of my life looking out at our two girls sharing a glance just as this one and I'll understand that secrets are being passed, even though I'll never quite know exactly what those secrets are without asking.  And that's just fine, because I'm content in knowing that they have each other, that I have a lifetime of motherhood to watch their relationship grow and flourish.
Our girls.
I will love this photo forever.

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I have been a fan of Social Print Studio for a few years now, they have excellent products and make ordering prints of all of those instagram photos that tend to get stuck in cyberspace rather than printed super easy.  For two years, I have created and printed a collage of twelve of my favorite photos for the year to display in our staircase photo wall.  And the mini square prints are perfect to tack into our kids' baby books of all those magical little moments that is kind of what instagram photos are for.   One of my favorite and most unique Christmas gifts was the tearaway calendar that my brother in law gifted me once.  All of these thoughts are my own, and seriously, check them out - I can promise you that SPS is awesome.


ps. scf, i love you.

Violet's First Birthday Party

We celebrated our baby's first birthday a few weeks ago with her current favorite book as the party inspiration, Little Blue Truck .  Violet got to wear her beautiful handmade (!!) dress from my dear friend Melodye.  Violet received the gift after she was just born as a surprise and I've been holding out on it until her birthday party.  It fit perfectly and looked absolutely beautiful.  Thank you so much Melodye, I treasure the dress and the pictures of my one year old (!) in it so much.  Such a special touch to a big day!

We went big on the invite list since it was a first birthday and invited into our extended family circle and lots of friends.  I was so grateful that my cousin Kara who had to work during the party, chose to come early to play with the big kids so that I could get things set up and finishing baking. (thank you Kara!!)

We got lucky that even though it was a chilly day, the rain held off until after the party ended, so I was very grateful we got to spend a lot of time outside playing (also, I don't know if everyone would have fit inside!)

We had meatball sandwiches (Violet's favorite!) and pasta salad (thanks Abba), and pierogies (thanks Gigi).  We tried to keep it simple but plentiful. I baked the cupcakes, cake, and smash cake, and used the book as inspiration for the cake and colors.

As for an activity, I did a read aloud of The Little Blue Truck and then we did a little coloring/glue activity with a blue truck and the animals from the story.  Cousin Ariel put together a truck for Violet and I have it slipped inside her first birthday day in her baby book as a keepsake.

Then it was on to the cake, which we did outside to help with mess clean-up.  We sang happy birthday (I got choked up, as usual) and then we let Violet go at her cake.  

The kids and I were trying to guess all week how Violet would react to her smash cake and Gemma ended up being the right guesser:  Violet picked at the icing and then whined about her hands being sticky (hah).  

 

But most of the party, we just got to play and enjoy our company.  Violet (and all of us) are so blessed to have so many people in our lives that are loving and generous and invested in us and our dreams.  It always is so overwhelming to me to recognize just how lucky we all are to be surrounded by so much love and laughter.

As the third baby, Violet is in a position to be surrounded by a lot of kids.  The party was overrun by little hands and feet and BIG voices.  We had kids running, laughing, and stealing cupcakes all over this place for the birthday party.  It really felt like a party!

We ended the party with some gift-opening (heavy on the big sibling help) and saying goodbye and thank you to all our guests.  (thanks Abba and Gigi for cleaning up!!) The kids were thankfully tired after a long evening of playing with friends, so Sunday night bedtime went fairly easy after we got everyone settled down after such a fun day.

So, now we have a one year old baby.  how?
All my kids' first years went by fast (in hindsight), but this one.  incredible.  where did the year go, I honestly cannot believe it.  In my 32 years of life, I'm going on record of proclaiming this past year going by the fastest yet.  someone hold me.

we love you so Violet Mary.
even when you get so big.
Mumma